Fourth Moonwalker Alan Bean Commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973

Summary: Fourth moonwalker Alan Bean commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973 for NASA’s second manned mission to the first United States space station.

Apollo 9 Lunar Module Pilot Russell “Rusty” Schweikart (back to camera) and another training officer (left background) wear surgical masks as Skylab 3 mission’s scientist-pilot Owen Garriott (center), with mock-up of trunnion plug plate, Commander Alan Bean (center background) and mission pilot Jack Lousma (center right) participate in prelaunch training at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Harris County, Southeast Texas; Saturday, June 30, 1973: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library

Fourth moonwalker Alan Bean commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973 for NASA’s second manned mission to Skylab, the first United States space station.

The Skylab 3 mission launched Saturday, July 28, 1973, from Cape Kennedy (Cape Canaveral since Oct. 9, 1973) in east central Florida at 11:10:50 Coordinated Universal Time (7:10 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time). The Saturn IB launch vehicle carried the crew and mission paraphernalia in Apollo CSM (command and service module) 117.

Alan LaVern Bean (March 15, 1932-May 26, 2018) headed the mission’s three-astronaut crew as commander. The mission marked the first spaceflights for scientist-pilot Owen Kay Garriott (Nov. 22, 1930-April 15, 2019) and mission pilot Jack Robert Lousma (born Feb. 29, 1936).

CSM 117 sheltered a multi-species cargo. The three astronauts shared the module with Anita and Arabella, a pair of common cross spiders (Araneus diadematus); six pocket mice (Perognathus longimembris); 180 fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) pupae; two mummichog minnows (Fundular heteroclitus); and 50 minnow fish eggs.

Anita and Arabella participated in the mission’s experiment on web formation in zero gravity. Their presence in Skylab 3 marked the first arachnid (Ancient Greek: ἀράχνη, arákhnē, “spider”) journey to space. Arabella debuted the first made-in-space web during Skylab 3. Anita is famed as the second spider to spun a web in space.

The NASA-conducted experiment was proposed by Judith S. Miles of Lexington, Massachusetts. The high schooler qualified as one of 25 national finalists in NASA's Skylab Student Project competition.

The pocket mice and fruit flies (also known as vinegar gnats) were involved in circadian rhythm experiments. The mission’s Circadian Periodicity Experiment (CPE) unit included separate housings for the pocket mice and the fruit flies. NASA Ames Research Center’s 1995 report, Life Into Space, acknowledged: “Unfortunately, about 30 hours after launch a power failure occurred and resulted in the loss of both experiments” (page 80).

The two mummichog minnows boarded the Skylab 3 mission as the first fish in space. The two minnows learned to orientate themselves in the unfamiliar environment of weightlessness.

The space fish population burgeoned to 48 during the mission with the hatching of all but two eggs. The fish fry emerged from their eggs with innate orientations to their habitat in space.

Three spacewalks, known as extravehicular activity (EVA), took place during the Skylab 3 mission. Astronauts Garriott and Lousma experienced their first spacewalk during the mission’s first extravehicular activity (EVA 1), which began Monday, Aug. 6, 1973, at 17:30 UTC (1:30 p.m. EDT). EVA 1 ended six hours 31 minutes later, Tuesday, Aug. 7, at 00:01 UTC (8:01 p.m. EDT, Monday, Aug. 6).

After their fledgling spacewalk, the duo became veterans in their outing for the mission’s second spacewalk (EVA 2). Their second spacewalk began Friday, Aug. 24, at 16:24 UTC (12:24 p.m. EDT). They completed the spacewalk four hours 31 minutes later, at 20:55 UTC (4:55 p.m. EDT).

Scientist-pilot Garriott claimed participation in all three of the mission’s spacewalks. He joined Commander Bean for EVA 3, which began Saturday, Sept. 22, at 11:18 UTC (7:18 a.m. EDT) and ended two hours 41 minutes later, at 13:59 UTC (9:59 a.m. EDT). With EVA 3, the Skylab 3 mission’s outside time totaled 13 hours 43 minutes.

The Skylab 3 mission’s third spacewalk numbered as Commander Bean’s third and last career extravehicular activity. He had conducted his first two extravehicular activities on the surface of the moon as the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 12. The Apollo 12 mission represented the United States Apollo program’s sixth manned flight and succeeded Apollo 11 as the second Apollo mission to land on Earth’s moon. With his first lunar walk, Nov. 19, 1969, Bean became the fourth moonwalker. The Apollo 12 mission’s commander, Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr. (June 2, 1930-July 8, 1999), preceded him onto the lunar surface.

The Skylab 3 mission undocked from the space station Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 11:16:42 UTC (7:16 a.m. EDT). CSM 117 splashed down in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, approximately 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) southwest of San Diego, southwestern California. Splashdown happened at 22:19:51 UTC (6:19 p.m. EDT), 11 hours 3 minutes 9 seconds after CSM 117’s undocking. Retrieval of the command module and the crew by the recovery vessel, the USS New Orleans, occurred 42 minutes after splashdown, according to the Skylab Mission Evaluation Team's Skylab Mission Report Second Visit (1974: 2-2).

The takeaways for fourth moonwalker Alan Bean, who commanded Skylab 3 July to September 1973, are that his Skylab 3 spacewalk numbered as his third and last career extravehicular activity and that, under his command, the first fish and spiders reached and lived in space and also the first made-in-space web was spun.

Skylab space station close-up view from Skylab 3 Command and Service Module (CSM) prior to docking; photographed with hand-held 70mm Hasselbad camera using a 100mm lens and SO-368 medium speed Ektachrome film; July 28, 1973: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Apollo 9 Lunar Module Pilot Russell “Rusty” Schweikart (back to camera) and another training officer (left background) wear surgical masks as Skylab 3 mission’s scientist-pilot Owen Garriott (center), with mock-up of trunnion plug plate, Commander Alan Bean (center background) and mission pilot Jack Lousma (center right) participate in prelaunch training at Johnson Space Center, Houston, Harris County, Southeast Texas; Saturday, June 30, 1973: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-s73-31322

Skylab space station close-up view from Skylab 3 Command and Service Module (CSM) prior to docking; photographed with hand-held 70mm Hasselbad camera using a 100mm lens and SO-368 medium speed Ektachrome film; Saturday, July 28, 1973: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-sl3-114-1683

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